enMon, 21 Jan 2019 23:46:21 +0000Mon, 29 Oct 2018 15:55:15 +000060Mon, 29 Oct 2018 15:55:15 +0000
Alright, fast forward 19 years (Hikaru was used from 1998 to 2002) and these ICs are failing at an alarming rate. The main reason they fail is because they simply come loose. It is very dangerous to ship these as even a moderate bump can cause the IC to completely separate from the motherboard. There have even been reports of the ICs simply falling off of a pcb still in use at arcades. When the IC falls off you will notice that all of the BGA balls remain attached to the pcb rather than the chip. This is because the pads on the pcb were properly tinned. This really shows the flaws since BGA ICs always have the balls attached to the chip first.

Note also that there can be other issues with the pcbs. Probably the most common is a rom board failure. The most common cause of these failures is bad ram or buffers on the rom boards. I personally have a NASCAR pcb here that has a loose IC42 which is ram in a QFP package.

Below is a picture of a loose BGA IC after it has fallen off the Hikaru motherboard. (Thanks Twistedsymphony)

And this one from a recent Ebay auction:

So as many of you know I have acquired BGA equipment and plan to begin offering services regarding BGA reflow. Below I will outline the process of preparing a BGA IC for re-installation on the Hikaru pcb. To make sure your pcb is a candidate for repair, inspect both the chip and the pcb. Make sure there are no missing pads from either. When these fall off in shipping it can sometimes pull pads off. Unfortunately if this happens a repair may be almost impossible. If all pads are present then we may be able to fix it!

These pictures show the IC after it has been removed from the heatsink. Notice the raw copper pads in the second picture:

So a major problem with these ICs as stated above is the raw copper pads. As soon as the chip comes loose the copper immediately begins to oxidize. Most likely there was already oxidation when Sega did the original reflow cycle. We need to remove the oxidation in order to properly tin these pads. I like to use a commercial product called BRASSO. I also use it for cleaning edge connectors on cartridges. I apply a layer on the pads of the chip and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. The BRASSO will dry a bit. But don't worry, it will easily buff off.

After you buff the BRASSO off you should have some bright and shiny pads!

Now we need to tin those pads like they should have been from the beginning! Apply lots of flux to the chip, get a good amount of solder on the tip of your soldering iron and then drag the solder blob over the pads to tin them. It should look like this: